Friday, May 13, 2011

I've been drooling at all the new and beautiful veggies, and especially fruits showing up at the farmers markets. Berry season can never seem to get her quite fast enough. Finally we have strawberries!

My favorite way to eat strawberries is off the vine, slightly warmed from the sun. When I was little, and it was my turn to pick the strawberries, I would often make myself sick, eating berries by the handful before my basket was even half full.
On occasion I will control myself long enough to make some jam or bake them into something... eggs and cream perhaps.

Cherries Clafoutis is one of my favorite desserts, or breakfasts, or snacks. Traditionally baked with the cherry pits still in, I like to work (a little) for my dessert. I also like to remember to SLOW DOWN. I have an incredibly simple and tasty clafoutis recipe, adapted from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Cookbook. Sadly we don't have a cherry tree. We do have a strawberry patch.

Cherry Strawberry Clafoutis

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Butter a shallow 10 inch baking dish.
In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup sugar, 3 large eggs and zest from one lemon until combined.
Add 1 cup heavy cream (on this occasion we used half and half because that was in the ice box) and 1t vanilla extract. Whisk until combined. Add 1/2 cup flour and a pinch of salt, whisk until frothy.
Pour about half the batter into the prepared baking dish then add a pound(ish) of (stemmed cherries) trimmed strawberries. Ours were quite large so I cut them in half.
Bake until golden and puffed up. Devour!

Remember: If you are serving this dish cherry pits and all remind your happy guests before they dig in. It would be a sad dessert if some unsuspecting friend chipped a tooth.